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An Honest Breakdown of My 2020 Side Hustle Income

 3 years ago
source link: https://blog.prototypr.io/an-honest-breakdown-of-my-2020-side-hustle-income-a3dd816da5b3
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An Honest Breakdown of My 2020 Side Hustle Income

No lies. No clickbait. Just real insights of what you can expect after your first year as a side hustler

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Photo by Markus Winkler on Unsplash

Don’t you just hate those “I made this much money in such and such time” kind of posts? In most cases, these posts want to sell you something. In other cases, the title is just a clickbait for a post that turns out to take far more of an effort than what the title suggests.

In June of 2020, I wanted to see how far I could get. I’ve started a design side hustle and took the tips these so-called experts shared with the world to heart. Now it is time to make up the balance and share what has happened.

I know how this sounds. You might be thinking that I’m just another one of those clickbait-writers looking to sell an ebook or an overpriced course. I assure you that I am the opposite of that. I just hope I can help you get the insights you need to get started.

Here’s an honest breakdown of what I’ve earned since I started my side hustle.

Total side hustle income in 2020

Let’s start with the most important figure of all. I’m talking about the total extra income I made through my side hustle projects.

I’ve made $517,44 through design side hustles in 2020.

There you have it. The magic number. It isn’t much yet. It certainly isn’t as much as what some bloggers promise you. This is just the realistic number I got after spending a few months working on my projects.

Breakdown and details

It is time to go a bit more into the details. I’m sure that’s far more interesting to see than just that one number. Details make things more tangible.

I’m going to zoom in on the two categories that actually earned something in 2020.

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Breakdown of my side hustle income. Credit to the author.

1. Medium Partner Program

Most of my income came through the Medium Partner Program. I’ve written over 20 posts on UX, productivity, and psychology in (game) design. In addition, I’ve created a publication called the Designer’s Toolbox.

In total, that has earned me $334,90 since June last year. If you break it down even further, you get the following interesting facts.

  • On average, posts have earned me $16 each.
  • I’ve earned an average of $47,84 per month.
  • August 2020 was my best month with $111,29. It was my most active month as well with 7 posts published.

It isn’t much. Let’s be honest about that. However, things picked up in the months after I started. Some good things started happening. For example, I’ve more than tripled my followers, created meaningful relationships with publications, and saw my publication grow as well.

Even though I also focus on things outside of Medium I do expect things to pick up on Medium if I keep working on it like I did last year.

2. Affiliates

The second biggest area of income in 2020 has been affiliates. I have created a website for my publication where I write content that isn’t best suited for Medium. This is usually content that is available in abundance already on this platform. There’s no need for me to bring another bucket of water to the ocean.

Anyways. There are a lot of big players in the world of affiliates. I’ve tried three of them and only one has earned me something.

It took some time to get started. Your success as an affiliate depends on the number of users you have on visiting your website. That number has grown a lot in 2020 so I saw most of my affiliate income in November and December.

Here are some of the facts.

  • On average, I have earned $26,08 per month through affiliates.
  • November 2020 was my best month with $127,50 in affiliate earnings.
  • November and December are responsible for 91% of my affiliate earnings.

It took a while to get started but for the last few months, affiliates have been a bigger earner for me than the Medium Partner program. I’m curious to see what happens to those ratios in 2021.

What to do if you want to get started

If making a few hundred dollars in your first months of being a side hustler sounds good to you, you might want to give it a try yourself. Here’s a step-by-step guide on what worked for me.

I hope it works for you as well!

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You have a rich library of (old) content. It is just waiting to be used. Credit to the author.

1. See what you already have and can do

As a designer, you most probably have a rich library of (old) content. That content might be worth a lot to a whole bunch of people. You might not even know it yet.

For me, I had a lot of icons just lying around. I was already writing a lot. That meant it was easy for me to start writing more and reusing the old icons. I’ve joined icon market places and, as you know, started writing a lot more than I already did.

Now, some things might not work out while others will be a big success. I haven’t sold a single icon. However, my publication and website are going better by the day.

Here’s what to do — Try out a thing or two (or five) and see where it goes. Give it about 4–6 weeks of your time to see if it goes somewhere. If something works, double-down on that and build from there.

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You’re the architect of your own brand. Credit to the author.

2. Create your brand

Ah, yes. Branding. People need to know who you are. They also need to be able to find you. That’s where branding comes in.

Branding creates an identity. You can focus on personal branding but you can also create a new brand. I went for the latter with the Designer’s Toolbox. I have no ambition to become a famous designer.

It is always a good plan to have something that is truly yours, like a website or a list of e-mail subscribers. That way you are depending less on others.

Here’s what to do — Think about where you want people to find you and how they must see you. This can be a website, your Medium profile, or perhaps even a YouTube channel.

The choice is up to you. Just make sure you have a place for your users to land.

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Just start. Let’s go! Credit to the author.

3. Just start

Getting started can be hard. Especially if you’re working a full-time job during the day as well.

One of the main risks people face is wanting too much too soon. You’ll burn yourself out within months or sometimes even weeks. Take your time! You don’t have to make hundreds of dollars right away.

In fact, that’s why those clickbait post titles are so dangerous. You’re going to expect unrealistic things. That’s why I hope this post helps.

This is going to sound a bit inconsistent. Just start, but don’t do too much right away. Take your time!

Here’s what to do — Don’t expect too much. Instead, focus on those small first milestones. I’ve only earned about $20 in my first month. Sure, it isn’t a lot but it was a start. I remember getting my first e-mail subscriber. Use those small victories as a way of motivating yourself.

Looking forward

That’s enough for looking back on 2020. It was just the start. Let’s focus on 2021 for now!

This will be the first full year of doing a side hustle. If you take last year’s income and spread it out over a full year I could have made $887,04. That’s a lot! You can buy a next-gen console, an online course, or a nice vacation from that amount of money.

For my goal, I am going to round up. Let’s go for $1000 in side hustle income in 2021. I hope to see you along the way!


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